David Stone Books

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Read David Stone answers questions from Newsline!

Praise for David Stone's The Skorpion Directive:

Readers will welcome the return of Micah Dalton, the CIA fixer (“when things go wrong on the operational side, I come in and try to fix them”). This time Dalton is in Vienna to meet with a former Mossad agent. But Micah, no slouch when it comes to self-preservation, gets the feeling something isn’t on the level, and when he takes steps to neutralize some unwanted surveillance, he’s propelled into a dark and dangerous chain of events involving shadowy foreign nationals, a ruthless assassin, and a conspiracy that seems to reach into his own government. The author, a former intelligence officer (“David Stone” is a pseudonym), packs the novel with the kind of detail that makes the story feel like it was written by an insider, someone who’s been there, done that. A winning story combined with solid, readable prose: a sure-fire hit. — David Pitt

Praise for David Stone's The Venetian Judgment:

David Stone is my primary “cross the street” author. People who know me cross the street when they see me coming because I will probably begin and end the conversation by telling them about the new David Stone book, or his last one, or all of them. Instead of crossing the street, they should listen. Stone is the real deal. Even if that is not his real name.
David Stone has three novels to his credit under that name --- THE ECHELON VENDETTA, THE ORPHEUS DECEPTION, and the newly released THE VENETIAN JUDGMENT --- and combined they would make one long, wild, 1,200-page book that would read as fast as a 20-page short story. They feature a CIA cleaner named Micah Dalton, who is not in the best graces of his agency due to a penchant that compels him to pursue a course of conduct that more often than not goes against orders but results in his usually getting the job done better than anyone else. While complete in itself, each volume also picks up immediately from where the last left off.
So it is that THE VENETIAN JUDGMENT begins with Dalton in Venice pursuing a bloody vengeance against the Serbian gang of thugs who shot and grievously wounded his lover in THE ORPHEUS DECEPTION. Quickly finding himself to be persona non grata for turning the romantic city into his own personal killing field, Dalton is handed a golden opportunity to keep his hands busy and happy while possibly putting himself back into the good graces of his erstwhile employer.
A small group of CIA employees known as the Glass Cutters specializes in decryption. While working on a top secret project that involves Deacon Cather, Dalton’s erstwhile mentor, one of their London members is brutally murdered after being subjected to unspeakable tortures. Worse, photographic documentation of the act was emailed to her friends, family and employer. The killing appears to be the work of Kiki Lujac, an exotic fiend who had been left for dead by Dalton in a previous encounter.
Stone is a marvel. Possessed with a canny sense of how the world works and a historical view that hasn’t been distorted by the talking heads, he pulls back the curtain and reveals the hidden history of the last 60 years while never once losing the sense of his narrative. You will want to read this one twice. At least.
--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub -Read the full review here

"This is a very good thriller. It’s the third novel to star Micah Dalton, the former military intelligence operative who now does special projects for the CIA, and it opens with a bang—or, more accurately, a series of bangs—as Dalton systematically kills the members of the Serbian gang who nearly killed the woman he loves. Dalton is surprised to come out of his revenge-fueled murderous rampage alive, and he’s even more surprised when his boss asks him to find the spy deep within the American government. This is one of those thrillers that starts big and keeps getting bigger until its final moments—a thriller propelled by its tough characters, terse dialogue, and two-fisted action. It’s the sort of thing Robert Ludlum might have written in his heyday. As a matter of fact, in many ways, Stone can be considered a successor to Ludlum, except that his prose is fluid where Ludlum’s is frequently clunky. For fans of high-testosterone thrillers, this one is a must-read." — David Pitt

"CIA "cleaner" Micah Dalton is in bad standing with the Company but manages to acquire yet another wound and slaughter five bad guys in the first few pages of this suspenseful sequel to the author's two previous breath-stoppers (The Echelon Vendetta and The Orpheus Deception ). The novel's violence is juicily graphic, and Stone's main evildoer is nearly satanic. Stone's work is not smoothly literary, instead moving in leaps from one subplot, one location, and one character set to another. Even so, his descriptions of the many different settings are nicely detailed; there are numerous characters, but not an excessive amount because of Stone's proficiency at rendering each memorable. His technique lends authenticity to the main story line, part revenge tale, part search for a possible mole in one of America's intelligence agencies. In the end, readers may be left with as many questions as answers." Recommended for all public libraries. -Jonathan Pearce, California State Univ., Stanislaus

Praise for David Stone's The Orpheus Deception:

"The grandiose greed of a Balkan warlord sets infernal machinery in motion from Venice to Singapore in a follow-up to The Echelon Vendetta (2007). Micah Dalton, the CIA “cleaner” who had an extraordinarily complex mess to tidy up in his first adventure, is thrown back in the mix before fully recovering from the hallucinogens administered in the last adventure. He continues to see the ghost of old associate Porter Naumann, who warns him of dark days ahead, and the ghost does indeed seem to know whereof he speaks. "

- KIRKUS – March 1, 2008

"Readers hungry for sex, bloody action and flag-waving patriotism will best appreciate this sequel to Stone's debut, The Echelon Vendetta, which likewise starred CIA agent Micah Dalton. The disparate elements of this testosterone-fueled thriller gradually come together, including a stabbing in Venice; the hijacking of a freighter in the South China Sea; a rogue SAS (Special Air Service) agent, Ray Fyke, imprisoned in Singapore's notorious Changi prison; and a Serbian mafia leader with grandiose ambitions. Each piece of the puzzle carries its own carnage and enough international intrigue to effectively make Dalton and his putative allies the only ones who can salvage the situation. Stone handles with aplomb such details as weapons technology, bureaucratic bumbling and ship navigation in treacherous seas, then tests the limits of human endurance with his heroes Dalton and Fyke. "

-PUBLISHERS WEEKLY – February 18, 2008

Praise for David Stone's The Echelon Vendetta:

“A terrific read. The Echelon Vendetta is terrifying, stylish, action-packed. David Stone lays claim to a corner of Ludlum territory and makes it his own.”
- JOHN LESCROART, New York Times–bestselling author of THE HUNT CLUB

“Intelligent writing, vivid characters and spellbinding, heart-pounding, hallucinogenic plotting—The Echelon Vendetta combines the eloquence of Dennis Lehane’s Mystic River, the plotting of the best Robert Ludlum novels, and the brains of a John LeCarré. I promise: you’ll love this book. I did.”
- RIDLEY PEARSON, New York Times–bestselling author of THE DIARY OF ELLEN RIMBAUER

"This extraordinarily suspenseful debut novel is the best CIA / intelligence story I have read. With characters who are rendered very (almost frighteningly) real, this is a whodunit for the 21st century."
- EDMUND M KAUFMAN, 'M' is for Mystery - Book Sense Picks, MARCH 2007

"In this auspicious debut novel, Stone introduces Micah Dalton, a CIA agent assigned to a unit that cleans up the messes left behind by field agents when things go wrong. Stone not only knows the espionage scene but also how to plot a complicated, fast-paced thriller. Fans of the genre should take Dalton for an adrenaline-fueled test drive.
- TOM MILLER, Military.com

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